Will the premier delay help or hurt the movie?

[Procutus]

Although I've finally gotten over being pissed about the movie not coming out this Christmas, I still can't help but wonder if TPTB at Paramount aren't shooting themselves in the foot, despite their proclamation that Star Trek XI is summer-time, blockbuster material.

Consider: If Paramount holds Abrams to the original shooting schedule, then by rights, the post-production work and editing would all have to be done by the beginning of December. That then means that Paramount will be sitting on a finished film for nearly five months before general release.

That being the case, won't that just increase the amount of pirated copies that are sure to surface, just because people don't want to wait until May 8, 2009?



I know for a fact that movies are available online, sometimes weeks before they hit the theater because I work with a guy who has means of downloading them for burning and viewing. So unless Paramount locks the master copy of this movie away in Fort Knox or something, I see this becoming the most pirated film in recent history.

Now, if they were to allow Abrams and his team to actually use the extra time to work on the film and truly make the best movie possible (not keeping to the original schedule), then I'm all for it, but I don't think that's what's going to happen.

I'm actually half-surprised the screenplay hasn't found its way online yet.

Just random thoughts, maybe I'm just over-estimating the impact that video piracy could have on the movie's overall performance at the box-office.

 

[number6]

I don't think the delay will hurt this film. Abrams has already said that the delay gives them more time for post production. The delay will give Paramount more time to promote the film. Paramount must believe in this film if they're willing to throw so much money at it, especially after the performance of the last film.
I'm not worried about pirate copies of the film finding its way out there, either, with all the secrecy and the fact that months after principle photography we still haven't seen anyone in costume, nor do we really know what this film is actually about, save a few cryptic tidbits. They seem to be taking great care to keep this top secret as long as possible.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

And it gives them a nice promotion plus. They can really play up the fact that it will be the 30 year anniversary of Star Trek hitting the big screen.

 

[Procutus]

And it gives them a nice promotion plus. They can really play up the fact that it will be the 30 year anniversary of Star Trek hitting the big screen.

That's a good point, one I never really thought about.

Yeah, it will be just six months shy of it's December, 1979 debut.

Very good point.




I still can't help but wonder though about the volume of pirate copies that are likely to surface. Granted, the quality of most are for shit, but it will still be letting the cat out of the bag earlier than what Paramount wants.

Personally, I'll be just as happy to wait for the big-screen to see it for the first time, I want to see it in all its epic glory without straining to see details.

 

[EyalM]

I know for a fact that movies are available online, sometimes weeks before they hit the theater because I work with a guy who has means of downloading them for burning and viewing. So unless Paramount locks the master copy of this movie away in Fort Knox or something, I see this becoming the most pirated film in recent history.

I "have means of downloading them for burning and viewing" too, but I don't remember a movie being available online before it's relese date. Sometimes movies are available online before their US release date because they were released abroad first, but that's it. No one to my knoledge has ever broken into a movie studio and pirated the master copy.

 

[M'Sharak]

I still can't help but wonder though about the volume of pirate copies that are likely to surface. Granted, the quality of most are for shit, but it will still be letting the cat out of the bag earlier than what Paramount wants.

Stop me if I'm wrong, but don't the bulk of those poor-quality pirated copies originate from surreptitious cam-corder tapings off advance-showing movie screens in Taiwan, Japan or Singapore, rather than from downloadable sources, and wouldn't that be mere days before general release, as opposed to months? Is there really such a great amount of material available online so far in advance of the scheduled release date?

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Stop me if I'm wrong, but don't the bulk of those poor-quality pirated copies originate from surreptitious cam-corder tapings off advance-showing movie screens in Taiwan, Japan or Singapore, rather than from downloadable sources, and wouldn't that be mere days before general release, as opposed to months? Is there really such a great amount of material available online so far in advance of the scheduled release date?

They're one in the same. Those crappy recordings are quickly rendered into crappy avi movies that can be downloaded. You're right. I've never seen a pirated movie download released significantly earlier than the general relese.

Now music albums are a different story.

 

[Procutus]

I'm not entirely certain how he does it or what his exact source (or sources) are, but I know that he had copies of the last Halloween movie last fall about ten days before it hit the theaters.

Does anyone know if Halloween was released abroad before here in the U.S.? And for that matter, will STXI be released in this country first?

 

[Lumen]

The delay is a high-risk/high-reward strategy. I assume the studio knows what it's doing, but we won't know for certain until opening weekend.

 

[M'Sharak]

Does anyone know if Halloween was released abroad before here in the U.S.?

Going by this, it doesn't seem to have been the case for that movie.

 

[Therin of Andor]

STXI be released in this country first?

Why would it be different to the first ten?

When it was a Christmas Day release, there was negotiation for it to open here in Australia at least on the Boxing Day (26th). These days the really big movies don't get delayed too much, due to Internet reviews. This can apply to both good and bad ones. (A delayed release on a bad film equals no international box office due to bad mouthing.)

Sometimes if a movie house was wary, they used to "test the market". For example, Australia got "Superman II" months before the US. And sometimes, if a local market is heavy with home-grown product, a release can be be delayed. We waited many agonizing months for ST III here, and most Aussies knew Spock was definitely returning long before the film opened.

But I wouldn't be overly concerned with a high quality bootleg ST XI turning up too early. JJ and Paramount seem to have ensured security is tight. (Sometimes scripts and prints have coded numbers in them, to help track down whose copy was bootlegged.) If there are bootlegs, they'll be shot from a mobile phone on sneak preview night, and uploaded to the bootleg collectors overnight. it won't be months in advance.

 

[chancellorjake]

Does anyone know if Halloween was released abroad before here in the U.S.?

Going by this, it doesn't seem to have been the case for that movie.

An alternate cut of Rob Zombie's Halloween was leaked roughly two weeks before the final cut of the film premiered. The rumor, on horror fan sites, is that John Carpenter was the one to leak the film. He did this as a slap in the face to Rob Zombie for butchering his classic film.
So unless J.J. Abrams pisses someone off during post production, I don't think that Star Trek will be leaked before the release date. I'm sure that the security around this film is much tighter, as well.

 

[Procutus]

But I wouldn't be overly concerned with a high quality bootleg ST XI turning up too early. JJ and Paramount seem to have ensured security is tight. (Sometimes scripts and prints have coded numbers in them, to help track down whose copy was bootlegged.) If there are bootlegs, they'll be shot from a mobile phone on sneak preview night, and uploaded to the bootleg collectors overnight. it won't be months in advance.

I certainly hope you're right, because I really do want to see this movie succeed and return Trek to some form of it's former glory. Even if it only remains a stand-alone film, that's fine, but I really hope it turns out to be the best thing ever done in the Trek universe.

However, I do hope that Abrams and Co. loosen security just a bit and release some 'official' stills from the movie, just to whet our appetites a bit more. I remember attending a convention here in Cleveland in early 1979 and getting my hands on a Paramount Press Kit for TMP, complete with posed cast photos of the crew in their new uniforms, and summarized information about the film (minor plot summary).

At that point, the movie hadn't even moved into post-production yet.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I remember attending a convention here in Cleveland in early 1979 and getting my hands on a Paramount Press Kit for TMP, complete with posed cast photos of the crew in their new uniforms, and summarized information about the film (minor plot summary).
At that point, the movie hadn't even moved into post-production yet.

On the other hand, photos of the cast in uniform for "ST II: The Wrath of Khan" did not really hit the newsstands until Starlog's "Official Movie Magazine", IIRC in the week of the film's US release. A Japanese-language magazine, "Super-Visual" #3, had featured about three tiny pics (including our only look at Saavik), which I saw in the February, then that was practically it until the film hit US cinemas.

 

[Procutus]

^

Good point, I think the first look at the STII unis that I saw was a photo of Nimoy in either Time or Newsweek, maybe about six weeks before the movie debuted in June.

I certainly don't think that allowing us a look at the new cast on the bridge is really going to damage the film's performance a year from now, if anything, I feel it would heighten the anticipation.

It also seems a shame that the next trailer, be it another teaser or a full-length one, probably won't be seen until the end of the year.

 

[pookha]

Does anyone know if Halloween was released abroad before here in the U.S.?

Going by this, it doesn't seem to have been the case for that movie.

An alternate cut of Rob Zombie's Halloween was leaked roughly two weeks before the final cut of the film premiered. The rumor, on horror fan sites, is that John Carpenter was the one to leak the film. He did this as a slap in the face to Rob Zombie for butchering his classic film.
So unless J.J. Abrams pisses someone off during post production, I don't think that Star Trek will be leaked before the release date. I'm sure that the security around this film is much tighter, as well.

has anyone speculated zombie himself may have leaked it.
he was forced to cut out stuff that later made it onto the directors cut.
and the move the weekend it came out was the number one movie that weekend.

i suspect a lot of pirates come from prescreening.
with the quality of digital going up as things become smaller it is easier to sneak something to record.

as for the star trek move coming out in summer may help.
it really depends on word of mouth from the screenings,
quality of the trailer and what opens near it.

 

[22 Stars]

Hey Proc, I was JUST thinking about this very same topic, funny to find your thread. Great minds....huh. But unlike you, I haven't gotten over the fact this movie is not a Christmas release. You know I've been close to the release of these films for years, and Trek has always performed better as a Thanksgiving/Xmas release. Add to history proving that true, I also just think that this long lag between the completion of filming and the press junket will just sap the intensity out of the principals when promoting it.

 

[Procutus]

Hey 22, it's good to see you!



Okay, maybe I lied a little bit (everyone lies) and I'm still just a little pissed that I'm not going to see STXI this year. I think to some degree, some folks have already lost interest a bit, now that it's a full year again until its release.

From what I've heard, it'll probably be the end of the year before another trailer (of any form) is released, and I think that's a mistake as well. I mean, we get a teaser in January then it's nearly 12 months until the next trailer? A second, slightly longer teaser this summer would keep the interest alive, but unless it's the best kept secret ever, it apparently isn't going to happen.

See, I really am still grumpy about it!

 

[22 Stars]

lol, glad to hear it!

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

I think the delay can only help.

It will hopefully give them the time to get everything right (although I'm not one of those people who thinks the cast and crew has nothing better to do than spend an extra five months on Star Trek and won't be moving on to other projects).

Plus, I think it always helps when your movie is considered a big Summer tentpole as opposed to a Christmas release. It may be a trivial distinction, but I know a lot of people -- myself included -- think that the big guns usually come out in the Summer.

I doubt they will hype the 30th anniversary (or any anniversary). I think they are trying to make this movie hip and fresh. Any reference to how long the franchise has been around is just going to make it seem old and dated. That's marketing in the wrong direction.

Anyone who knows or cares that it's the such-and-such anniversary will already be in the theater.